Is a PowerPC Mac even worth getting anymore?

Currently, I carry a Lenovo X60 Tablet with me every day and it has been great. I've just become a bit bored with it and I'm looking to get something different. I thought I would "Think Different" and pick up a Mac. Obviously an Intel-based mac would be best as far as speed, compatibility, and future-proofness goes. However, the smallest one is the 13" and that isn't small enough for me. A 12" laptop is the optimal size for me as a netbook doesn't have enough umph.

Enough background info; on to the real question. I have found a 1.33Ghz iBook G4 in great shape for $300 (I might be able to talk him down a bit tho). Is it worth it to buy a PowerPC based Mac anymore?

Upgrading to 10.6 is a non-issue and even if I could, I wouldn't run Windows on it.

 

If you can get by with it and it meets your needs, then sure.

 

As it would be with any computer.

What I was trying to get at, and I really wasn't too clear about it was: Is it going to be useful for any significant amount of time or is all Mac software and development moving towards Intel-based Macs fast enough that in a year or so it will be mostly useless?

 

Current software is moving away quickly.

I do know a guy that went to Intel Macs only recently. He had been using a 1990s era Mac before that as a desktop for Unix development.

I also have a working PowerMac G5 in my basement. I was thinking that it would be useful for online credit card transactions.

 

1. SnowLeopard does not support PPC Mac.

2. Apple has suggested that going forward they won't develop software using Universal Binary (necessary to run on older PPC Mac).

3. Most current Mac software will run on PPC, just more slowly then on Intel-cpu Mac; there are exceptions to what may run, however.

4. $300 is a reasonable entry fee if you're using it to take a chance and see the world of OS X is right for you, and possibly to depart from the land of Windows. However, you would want the PPC to run at least 10.4 Tiger to get a good feel for what the Mac experience should be like. Else, consider just going ahead to spend a bit more and look at refurbished Macbooks at Apple, which come with essentially a new product 1-year warranty (which can be expanded to 3 years with AppleCare). Many users here will sing the praises of the refub purchasing option.

 

Yellowdog Linux is another option for operating systems. Not for those afraid of building their own apps.

 

From a different perspective......the difference between a 12" and a 13" notebook is marginal and well worth considering.

I used to be of the mindset too that "anything larger than a 12" notebook is TOO BIG", but then I opened my eyes and started using a 13" and have absolutely no regrets at all.

 

It will perform much better than netbooks in the same price range. If you are planning on only doing internet/office tasks, go for it. If you want to do multimedia and keep up with the latest software, look for an Intel based machine. You'll have a hard time telling the difference between a 12" and one of the new 13" models for portability.

 

You say a netbook does not have enough umph, but you are going to buy a 5 year old notebook that has less power then my $350 netbook.

Just think that it's about a 5 years old notebook, has no warranty, and cold die at any minute.

Also note, from what I read, it's a pain in the to upgrade that thing, and you can only add 1gb of RAM for a max of 1.5gb.

 

It depends on what you want to do with it.

I have a Compaq Presario r3000z on my desk at work. I bought it in the spring of 2004 and it runs 64-bit Windows XP. I use it to display real-time stock charts. It's not the fastest thing in the world but it works fine as a stock display and allows me to make use of a five-year-old system.

I have access to systems built in the 1980s at work. We still use them for development and maintenance. Old isn't necessarily bad. I doubt that there are any viruses for the architecture since the company that made them stopped making them in the 1990s.

 

Snow Leopard compatibility is a non-issue. I didn't know that they were going to discontinue development with Universal Binary so that's a -1 for the "Worth buying" column. I figured $300 is a decent price. The newest Mac I have otherwise is a beige PowerMac G3 Desktop with 10.2 on it (and then an LC3, SE30, 512k, and a IIgs). I was hoping to keep my cost under $500 which is why I ruled out a refurbed MacBook. Plus I don't like the "chiclet-style" keyboard of the MacBooks. Unless it was an incredible deal, if I were to get any Intel MacBook it would be a pre-unibody 15" MBP to replace my Compal.

Any 13" is a widescreen and I don't like widescreens less than 1050px in height. I know it sounds picky but "short" widescreen displays just bother me. My current travel computer is the x60t and the 13" MacBook is 2" wider. That's considerable. Plus, as I said above, I don't like the chiclet keyboard.

We have 3 Dell Mini 9 netbooks at work and I don't care for them. They're just too slow and the screen is too small. I also have issues typing on the cramped keyboard with my big hands. And I can run Photoshop on a G4 iBook, there's no way I would even attempt that on an Atom chip.

I'm not planning to do anything ridiculous. Probably the same sort of things I do with my x60t which would be: internet, word-processing, light Photoshop, and writing PHP and Java with Eclipse.

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I'm thinking I should probably skip it as there really isn't much future in the PPC. I have no problem using older, out-dated systems (my sig is proof of that). But, I don't want to buy a computer that in a year or so I won't be able to get new software for.

If they made a 12" iBook sized laptop that was Intel powered I would be all over that.

 

why dont you look on ebay??white macbooks are going around for pretty cheap these days, especially the old core duo one....

 

no

yep

you'd be surprised how small the 13" is, especially the Macbook Pro.... the 13" MBP has about the same exact volume as the older G4 12" ibooks.

NO!! unless you want to use it for some dedicated purpose like a router, or machine controller, or something similar.

10.6 should be an issue, as well as software compatibility, since there are TONS of software packages out now that cannot run on PPC Macs, but mostly just games.
I hope you wouldn't want to run Windows on it... wont work, and old VPC software for running a virtual machines sucks really bad.

 

I would say its not a good idea to get PowerPC at this point...unless you're just getting it for fun and would be replacing it in a year or so. Otherwise, getting an Intel Mac, even a first-generation, will help in terms of software (you noted you don't need Snow Leopard, but even now, going forward PowerPC will be less supported by new applications).

 

Intel Mac all the way.

PowerPC is dead. Many software updates are x86 now, even Adobe is going to drop PowerPC.

 

I agree netbook's are very good these days. No reason to get something so outdated.You probably will have to buy a new battery anyway to as since it is so old it probably holds 10 minutes of charge.

 

Thanks so much for sharing the post.

 

Don't get a PPC macbook, it will probably be slower than your average $300 netbook. Just get cheap 13inch pc or a refurbished macbook if you can't afford a new one. You definitively don't want a 3+ year old used computer that could break down at any moment.

 

I have owned a couple of PPC products. I owned a Clamshell and a iBook G4 1.42 with 1.5GB of ram. I parted with the iBook in 2007 or 2008. It was fine for websurfing and fast enough for everyday needs. Tiger is the best OS for these products. I am a little dubious about the latter iBook's being slower than some netbooks.
For a couple of weeks in 2007 i used the Clamshell as my only computer and that has got like a 466mhz PPC processor. I even did photoshop with that.

Anyway, i would be hesistant in getting one now though because Apple has stopped supporting them. Your web browsing experience may be less than great because PPC is outdated now.

The Powerbook 12 was special though. The form factor was great and it looked great as well.

 

For what you need it to do, youll be fine with a powerpc mac.
Though, I'd say the only reason you'd want to get one would be to get a 12" powerbook. (which I think you realize)

There is still a base of software that runs on PPC, though newer versions wont run on it.

Again, for email, photoshop, and some dev work youll be fine. Many apps still have legacy version available for PPC, but not everything.

You might have to look out for older versions of apps, because some stopped supporting PPC, but that is all third part apps. Safari will still run, word will run, so yea, for what you need it to do, you should be fine.

I'd still consider getting a 12", if you fully upgrade it (max out the ram and the hdd), and put leopard on it, it should be a decent 12" computer

 

Seems that the general consensus seems to be that a PPC Mac is fine for "general computing" but there really isn't much future in one since Apple is dropping support for it. I can't see spending $300 on a computer that has such a short usable lifespan. I think if I can get one for about $200 I'll probably go for it as a PPC probably has another year or two (at most) left.

Otherwise I'll keep an eye out for a cheap Intel MacBook. I don't like the size but if I can get some sort of crazy deal on one, I might force myself to get used to it.